


Blind Dating

by stupidnephilimlove



Series: ShHiatus Bingo Prompts (Team Red) [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Blind Date, Lightwood Siblings, M/M, but izzy took that literally, this is mostly just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidnephilimlove/pseuds/stupidnephilimlove
Summary: When Magnus agreed to let Isabelle setup a blind date, he didn’t think she actually meantblinddate. In which Magnus goes on a date, where they both have to spend the first 30 minutes blindfolded.Bingo Square:Blind DateTeam Red





	Blind Dating

Magnus had a moment to rethink his life choices as Isabelle secured the blindfold around his eyes. She was his friend, he reminded himself, and he trusted her.

“There,” Isabelle said when the knot was finally done. Magnus knew for a fact that she’d taken a step back and was surveying her handiwork.

“I’ll just-” The buzzer, signalling someone was at the door, interrupted her.

“He’s here!” She exclaimed and, even without his sight, Magnus felt the way she vibrated with excitement. “Okay, wait right here.”

Magnus smiled and shook his head. Where was he going to go? He couldn’t see anything.

“And no peeking,” Isabelle called out as her footsteps retreated.

This was… unusual. Magnus had dated before, hell, he’d dated a lot. But somehow he’d never found himself in _this_ situation. It seemed Isabelle had taken the idea of a ‘blind date’ quite literally.

Magnus supposed that he could just take the blindfold off. Then he thought of Isabelle, and he knew he couldn’t. He promised he would give this a try, and Magnus didn’t go back on his word. He did, however, believe in using grey areas to his advantage. He wiggled his nose in an attempt to dislodge the blindfold, but try as he might it wouldn’t budge. He twisted his head, tried to rub his face against his shoulder, but nothing worked. Not even a sliver of light made it past the dark material. Sighing, he resigned himself to this charade.

“Is this really necessary,” came a deep male voice Magnus didn’t recognise. There was a loud clatter and then, “Ow. Fine. Okay! Just stop walking me into things.”

He was here, Magnus thought, his mystery date, and he couldn’t hold back his smile at the exchange he’d overheard. Isabelle hadn’t given him the slightest hint at who she was setting him up with, but it was becoming clear to Magnus that it was clearly someone she knew well. Magnus tried to imagine what the owner of that voice, with the adorably annoyed tone, might look like.

“Just trust me,” Isabelle said, and their voices seemed much closer.

The movement of air rushed across Magnus' cheek, and there was a soft depression in the seat next to him. Heat radiated from Magnus’ left, it sent goosebumps along the skin of his arm, and he shifted in his seat. His knee brushed against another, and he was suddenly aware of how close this stranger was.

It had been longer than Magnus cared to admit since he’d dated anyone. He’d just become so disillusioned with the dating scene, with the same inane conversation that never went anywhere. But Isabelle had pestered. She’d told him that she had the perfect match for him and she usually had a good instinct for these things.

The only sound was the soft tap of Isabelle’s foot against the concrete floor.

“Okay,” she told them. “I’ll leave the two of you to it.”

Her shoes echoed in the quiet room as she walked away, then stalled. “Remember, you both promised thirty minutes. The timer will let you know when it’s up.”

The door clicked shut. It was just the two of them.

They should talk about… something. Magnus searched for something to say, but without his eyes, he realised he had no frame of reference to go on.

“Sorry about this,” his date said. “When Iz gets an idea in her head she just won’t be stopped.”

Magnus knew that entirely too well, hadn’t he spent the last three days trying to convince her against the use of tulle on their project.

“Well, I agreed to it. So…” Magnus shrugged, before realising no one would see it. “I’m Magnus.”

“Magnus,” his date repeated and Magnus enjoyed the way it sounded. As if this stranger was just trying out the word. “Oh. You’re working with Izzy on her fall collection?”

“I am,” Magnus confirmed, slightly taken aback. The number of people that knew they were collaborating was _very_ limited, and Magnus was more and more curious as to this man’s identity.

“Alec… I’m Alec.”

 _The_ Alec? The brother that Isabelle had been unsuccessfully trying to get Magnus to meet since the first started working together? He cast his mind back, trying to remember if she’d ever shown him a picture of Alec. There wasn’t one that he remembered.

“You’re Isabelle’s brother.”

 _Fantastic, Bane,_ Magnus thought, _way to state the obvious._ Then it dawned on him. Did Alec even want to be here? Or was this just some sibling obligation?

A hand, that wasn’t Magnus’, brushed against his leg, interrupting Magnus’ spiralling thoughts.

“Sorry. Shit. Sorry.” Alec sounded flustered.

Magnus couldn’t help himself, he knew he was smirking, and he was actually thankful for the blindfold so that Alec couldn’t see. “That’s _entirely_ alright.”

Maybe Alec could do that again, his hand just a little higher, leave it there just a little longer. It had been the barest of grazes, but it gave Magnus all kinds of indecent thoughts. _Calm it,_ he told himself.

“We could just take these stupid things off,” Alec suggested, and it took Magnus a second to realise Alec meant the blindfolds.

“She’d know.”

Alec sighed, “She would.”

Taking a deep breath to get himself under some kind of control, Magnus twisted until he was facing where he figured Alec was. He asked, “So, what do you do, Alec?”

His question was followed by a short pause, long enough to have Magnus thinking he’d said something wrong.

“I’m an architect,” Alec said, and Magnus did not think about how skilled Alec would be with his hands. “Or… I’m trying to be.”

Magnus noted Alec’s tone, the hint of dejection to it.

“Oh,” he prompted.

“I’m between jobs at the minute.”

Magnus had thought this would be a safe subject. How wrong he’d been.

“Your choice?” Magnus asked, and really he should leave the subject alone. Why was he still asking these questions?

“Some funding at the company fell through, and they had to make a few cuts and… you probably don’t want to hear about this.”

Magnus chuckled, then hoped Alec didn’t think he was laughing _at_ him. “I really don’t mind.”

“Okay… long story short? I was the cut they made.”

Magnus got the sense that there was a lot missing from that story, but he knew better than to pry.

“I’m sorry,” he told Alec, and was surprised to find that he meant it.

“Don’t be,” Alec said. “It was only a stepping stone anyway.”

The conversation lapsed for a moment before Alec spoke again. “Izzy raves that you’re the best designer she could have ever hoped to work with.”

“Oh, well… I wouldn’t say I’m the _best._ ” Magnus enjoyed praise for his work, and he knew his own self-worth, his own abilities as a designer. But the way Alec said it - so matter of factly - made Magnus want to bask in that comment for just a moment longer.

“She did this ridiculous dance when she found out you wanted to collaborate.”

Magnus knew that dance. He’d seen it first hand on numerous occasions, but he’s never considered that she might have once done it because of _him._

“I know next to nothing about fashion,” Alec continued, “or fabrics, other than ‘I like that’. But I know Izzy wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it… sorry. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.

Alec was so endearing, and if Magnus could see he would have reached out and placed a reassuring hand to Alec’s shoulder. Without his sight, he daren’t try. He’d probably end up whacking Alec in the nose or something.

Instead, he tried to use words and humour to reassure. “I’m wearing a blindfold, Alec.”

And Alec laughed, this carefree bubble of sound that was so genuine that Magnus felt a sudden lightness in his chest.

“Is this too weird?” Alec asked. “It’s weird, right?”

Alec’s voice hinted at nerves and his next words confirmed it, “I’m a little nervous.”

“It’s…” Magnus searched for a word that would put Alec at ease, “creative, shall we say. And I’ll admit, I’m a bit nervous myself. So… I remember Isabelle mentioned you’re a book lover. Any current recommendations?”

As they talked, Magnus realised he was having fun. Alec made him laugh, and Magnus couldn’t help but flirt. This date seemed so easy, and Alec’s warmth and delight were like a breath of fresh air.

All too soon their conversation was broken by the shrill ringing of the timer.

The thirty minutes were up already? Magnus could’ve sworn Isabelle left no more than ten minutes ago. He was overcome by this urge to finally see Alec, but at the same he was cautious. What if, after all of this, there was no attraction? Or what if there was, but Alec didn’t feel the same? Magnus’ earlier nerves came rushing back in full force.

“I guess that’s out time up,” Magnus said and he was genuinely sorry for it.

“Yeah.”

There was silence.

“Should we do this together?” Alec asked.

Magnus nodded, and again remembered Alec couldn’t see the motion. “On three?”

“Sure.”

“One…” Magnus lifted his hands to the knot at the back of his head. “Two… Three…”

Bright sunlight assaulted Magnus eyes as he drew the blindfold away from his face. He blinked, urging his eyes to adjust, and then… there was Alec.

Magnus took in the dark hair, tousled, as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Alec’s blindfold rested in his fingers, and one corner of his mouth was turned up in the most adorable lopsided smile Magnus had ever seen. His jaw was covered in short stubble and Magnus had the urge to run his fingers across it. And those eyes, hazel, were focused entirely on Magnus’ face.

Magnus’ heart hammered in his chest, his breath felt a little thready, and his mouth watered.

The attraction thing Magnus had worried about… yeah, that _really_ wasn’t going to be a problem for him, and if he was reading the look on Alec’s face correctly, it wasn’t a problem for either of them.

“Hi,” Alec breathed, and his smile bloomed full and bright.

Magnus couldn’t help it, and his lips curved to mirror Alec’s own. “Hi.”

They looked at each other for a moment more.

“Do you want to- Are you hungry?” Alec asked, and Magnus could see Alec’s nerves in the way he rubbed his hands across his trousers.

“I could eat.” Magnus wasn’t hungry in the slightest, at least, not for food. But if it meant he got to prolong this date with Alec, then he was all for it.


End file.
